Friday’s West Conference Coaches meet at Mansion Park was a highly successful meet for many individual Tyrone and Bellwood-Antis athletes.
At the top of the list, as she has been all season, Lady Eagle senior Emily Ingle was truly spectacular. Ingle doubled up to win what was one of the toughest combinations at the WCCA according to Tyrone coach Tony Yaniello, winning the 800 and 1600. Emily won the 800 in 2:18.71 and the 1600 in 5:03.74 -both are school records as well as personal bests. Both times were also meet records, which earned Ingle the Outstanding Girls Runner Award.
“The 1600 was one of the fastest I have ever seen,” recounted Yaniello. “Emily had the competition she seldom has had during the season-she was pushed and she stepped up. She beat the defending state cross country champ in the 1600, avenging an earlier defeat at the Igloo Invitational. She is right in there with anybody in the state. We just have to keep her focused and working hard. I am really excited about watching her run. She has been setting records every time she runs.”
In the girls meet, there were a handful of standouts who managed to score major points for Tyrone on and off the track. Liz Tepsic, a star athlete from the very beginning of the season, placed well in three events including ninth place in the 300 hurdles, a second in the 100 intermediate hurdles, and a third in the triple jump. In both the IM hurdles and triple jump, the only girls ahead of Tepsic were from outside District 6. Kayla Patton took a fourth place in the 400 dash, in her first action since being injured at the Bellwood-Antis Invitational. Senior Emily Lloyd took a sixth in the high jump with 4-10 and a satisfying third in the 300 low hurdles with a time of 50.55 seconds. In the discus, senior Katie Schreckengost took 19th with a throw of 88-5 and senior Ashley Turnbaugh placed 21st with a toss of 86-1.
As a team, the Tyrone girls scored 41.5 points, to finish in 6th place, just a half point out of fifth and four and a half out of third, with Elk County Christian winning the title with 60 followed by North East (54), Windber (48), Westmont-Hilltop (44) and Northern Bedford (42).
“This was a tougher meet than our districts,” said Yaniello. “I was pleased with the times and jumps, although we can do better. It was nice to have Kayla Patton back, and Emily Lloyd has worked hard all year.”
The Bellwood-Antis boys had a total of 10 placewinners, to score 47.5 points, good for fourth place, behind Bowling Brook Prep (88.75), Westmont-Hilltop (69.5), and North East (62).
Personal bests were the call for the day for the Blue Devils, as B-A turned in their PRs in eight separate events. Brandon Pruznak was third in the 200 (22.83) and sixth in the 400 (51.36), Ben Hatch was third in the 800 (1:59.00), Adam Mueller tied for fourth in the 110 high hurdles (15.75), the 1600 relay team of Dustin Harris, Mueller, Hatch and Pruznak, was fourth in 3:31.72, Tony DelGrosso was fourth in the discus (144-2) and third in the javelin (160-11) and Ricky Shawley was third in the pole vault (12-6), all in personal best times or jumps. Mueller was also sixth in the 300 IM hurdles (43.01) and the 3200 relay squad of Jeremy Tomchick, Dustin Pruznak, Eli Colyer and Hatch was sixth (8:46.92).
“This was great competition,” said Bellwood-Antis boys coach Nick Lovrich. “Anytime we can compete against that kind of competition and still score that many points is quite an accomplishment. It seemed like everybody had their best times. This lets us see where we stack up right now. Hopefully we will continue to improve and our performances can get better yet.”
On the Tyrone boy’s team, Philip Kreckel jumped an 11-6 in the pole vault, tying for ninth place in the finals. Senior Adam Shaffer threw 170 feet, eight inches in the javelin for a second place spot. Shaffer’s throw was his personal best. Sophomore Ross Black ran the 300 hurdles in 50.45 seconds to place 26th overall. Finally, the men’s 400 relay team of Johnny Franco, Trey Brockett, Leonard Wilson and Ethan Etters, took seventh overall with a time of 46.47 seconds, despite a couple bad handoffs. Brockett was second in the triple jump and had a longer jump on which he scratched.
“That was Adam Shaffer’s best throw in the javelin, he was beaten only by the defending district champ,” said Yaniello. “I am excited about Trey Brockett. He can do better than he did Friday and had one on which he scratched there that was longer.”
The Bellwood-Antis girls dealt a surprise to the rest of the field in the 400 meter relay, eclipsing their previous best by more than a second to win the event, after being seeded just fifth. The team of Lauren Carter, Erica Greene, Lauren Leap and Ashley Mueller ran 51.65 for the Lady Blue Devils only win at the WCCA.
“Our 400 relay team had a bad handoff that cost us a better time at the MAC Meet, and false-started at the Bellwood-Antis Invitational, so this was the first time in a major meet that they had a chance to really put it all together,” said Bellwood-Antis girls coach Julia Roseborough. “Now if we can do that one more time at districts, and finish in the top three, we qualify for states.”
Greene was seventh in the 100 (13.44), Mueller was sixth in the 100 IM hurdles (16.63) and seventh in the 300 low hurdles (50.51) and the 1600 relay team was third in 4:14.21.
“Erica Greene has been running much better at the end of the season,” explained Roseborough, “and Ashley Mueller has done a good job for us all year.”
The 1600 relay team (Lauren Leap, Kelley Killinger, Lauren Carter and Chelsea Wilson) broke a school record that had held up for 19 years. The old mark had been set in 1987, by Tanya Greene, Marcia Swogger, Cathy Dodson and Dawn Baldwin.
“Those girls in the 1600 relay, still haven’t all had their best times in the same race,” said Roseborough.
Tyrone and Bellwood-Antis athletes will compete for a district title at the District 6 Meet at Mansion Park on Tuesday, May 16. The top three, plus anyone who equals or betters the required time or distance will qualify for the PIAA state meet at Shippensburg University.
